Drugpa Kagyu & Back at Deer Park for the Night

JL and I left Dharamsala a little after nine this morning. It was a pleasant drive along the road heading east back to Palampur. We turned off the road north heading into a forested area and then wound our way around some low hills and then on to the top of the hill where Dorzang Rinpoche is building a retreat center. Actually it seems that Drugu Chogyal Rinpoche is the one really building it but one must remember protocol and hierarchy.

The forest retreat comp[lex of many buildings and monks quarters is unfinished but magnificent. It is very clean with few people other than an occasional monk and then the Indian workers finishing the construction. It is in the middle of a pine forest with grass underfoot and clean dust free air. Drugu Chogyal met us out front of his residence. We spent two hours talking and then adjourned for lunch. None of us ate very much as the conversation continued over the formally prepared lunch table. We looked at an amazing assortment of paintings both actual and photographs. I managed to copy all of the important images and will return to New York with them and add them to the HAR website. Most are from the late 17th, early 18th century and painted by the great Drugpa Kagyu painter Cho Tashi. I took numerous pictures of the retreat center and surroundings.

Leaving Drugu Chogyal we proceeded directly to Tashi Jong and spent some time in the main temple again photographing paintings of the former Khamtrul Rinpoches. Again, these paintings were in the style of Cho Tashi if not by his very hand. After that we traveled the short distance to Bir and took a room at the Deer Park Institute for the night. This time JK and I were able to meet with his eldest son at the local TCV school and take some photos. On the return to Deer Park we stopped and visited Orgyan Tobgyal Rinpoche at his house that I call a palace. Many of you will remember him from the movie "The Cup" where he played the disciplinarian - the very stern head monk.

Darkness sets in very quickly in India; it could also be that there is a lack of street lighting. I will quickly finish this and then go and get something light to eat. The plan is to get up relatively early and head off towards Tso Pema. If we can get there in a reasonable time and see what we need to see then we will head south-east down to Simla. If that isn't reasonable then we will spend the night in Tso Pema and leave the next morning.

Sword and Lotus with Two Two-headed Birds

The symbol of the sword standing above a lotus along with two double headed birds was first designed by Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen and painted on a wall in Samye Monastery, Tibet.

Follow the Conference and Proceedings

It is a little late since we are going into the last full day of the conference but here are the proceedings as posted on Facebook (no password required): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59296950597

Khyentse Foundation Website Conference Information: http://www.khyentsefoundation.com/2009_02_translating_the_words_of_the_buddha_conference.html

The Buddhist Channel: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=10,7896,0,0,1,0

All hits on Google with the terms 'translating the buddha words'
http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=translating+the+words+of+the+buddha&meta=

Heading into the Home Stretch

The food at the conference has been excellent. The weather has also been pretty good with only one day of some rain and today with a little smattering. At night you need to wear a jacket because it is cool as it should be above 3000 feet. Although each day will now get a little warmer as India heads into summer.

I don't think I mentioned that Paldor and I are rooming together at the conference. Everything is basically double occupancy. Paldor is a great room mate and it is nice to review each day before bed with someone that cares so passionately about the subject and who also has such a great knowledge and insight into the issues and history of the Kangyur and Tangyur. Paldor worked in Chengdu for 10 years on Alak Zenkar Rinpoche's edition of the Tibetan Kangyur (published in China).

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference and a lot of resolutions and decisions will have to be made. Khyentse Rinpoche has agreed to be the interim leader of the proposed project to translate the Tibetan Buddhist Literary heritage until an organization and infrastructure has been set up. Who knows, maybe he will stay on after that and continue as the visionary leader while others step up and take charge of the fundamentals of organization and administration.

Snow on the Mountains

This is a sample image of the mountains surrounding Bir to the north. They are the foothills of the Himalayas. The altitude is between 3 and 4 thousand feet in elevation. Today was another busy conference schedule with both small group discussions and the full participants meeting in the Manjushri Hall. The main news of the day about a schedule change is that on Saturday instead of going to Tso Pema we will instead travel the two hours by bus to Dharamsala to have a private interview with the Dalai Lama and brief him on the results of the conference.

Conference Decisions

It rained here this afternoon putting fresh snow on the surrounding mountains. It can cool down quickly especially when a wind comes up. Tonight there is a local cultural show at Deer Park for the enjoyment of the conference participants, probably the group least likely to enjoy such an event.

The conference has been pretty amazing with so many people that I know and many people that I have heard about for years but never met.

Yesterday Khyentse Rinpoche gave an amazing speech, a call to arms, inspiring, uplifting and directed towards a singular goal - the translation of the Kangyur, Tangyur and the Tibetan writings and commentarial collections within 100 years. We spent the rest of the day working out a 100 year mission statement, then a 25 year plan and statement, and then a 5 year action plan. Fifty translators all in agreement is a rare thing.

Manjushri Sculpture at Deer Park

In the Manjushri Hall at Deer Park is a large central image of Manjushri approximately 7 feet tall. This sculpture is a copy based on a photograph of the famous Manjushri sculpture in Sakya, Tibet, said to be made by Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen. The photo used for the copy was taken by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche during his first visit to Sakya Monastery.

Conference,1st Day

It is 7:30 in the morning on Monday the first full day of the conference. The first session begins at 9:00. It is warmer this morning with nice light and sunshine beginning to streak over the mountains catching the eye at odd angles. The wi-fi internet is supposed to be turned on from 6:00 in the morning but wasn't active until 7:20 today. The Internet users are competing with a yoga class about 20 feet away.

The image above is of me in the mountains above Dzongsar Monastery, Kham, Eastern Tibet, back in August of 2004. The monastery, not visible, is way down in the valley below. At this time Victoria Blythe-Hill and I were doing and a conservation survey and cataloguing of all the sculpture and paintings in Dzongsar monastery.

Karmapa Visit Photos

The group photo was taken the morning of Saturday March 14th by a monk attendant using Matthieu Ricard's camera fitted with a wide angle lens. In the full photo Matthieu is kneeling in front with the big smile. Seated on the floor to the right of Karmapa is the happy face of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Gene Smith is standing to the left of Karmapa with Paldor seated below and to the left. I am standing at the back, almost center, with Jake Dalton standing below and slightly to the left, above Karmapa.

The painting to the left of me behind the Shakyamuni Buddha sculpture depicts the five forms of Manjushri associated with the five peaks of Wutaishan Mountain in China. This recently painted portrayal of the five forms shows that the subject of Manjushri at Wutaishan is as popular as ever.

Hang Gliding Images

These two images are taken from a window of the Tara Wi-fi Lounge at Deer Park Institute. It is a common sight to see these daring hang gliders floating above the temples and villages of the Kangra District.

Conference Signage

Here is the conference sign and a picture of the main temple at Deer Park. The double headed parrots are/is kind of cute. The original concept for this comes from Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen. The double headed birds, in Sakya Pandita's design there are two birds, represent the early translators of Tibet. For more information on this subject see the publication "Gateway to the Temple" by Chokye Tri Rinpoche, translated by David Jackson.

Did you know that Bir is famous for hang gliding. It is one of the hottest spots in all of India. On Thursday in Majnukatilla I met a Tibetan from Toronto who had just returned from hang gliding in Bir. I asked if he had family there or was on pilgrimage and he said no he was only there for the hang gliding.

Arrival in Deer Park, Bir

Arrived in Deer Park, Bir, at 12:00 last night. It was a 16 hour bus ride from Delhi. You definitely need a jacket at night up here in the mountains. Sunny and cool this morning. There are lots of people I know at the conference and more Tibetan friends than I can count. We have wi-fi from about 8 in the morning until 11 or 12 at night. I don't know how well it will work when there are 50 scholars all sitting cross-legged in a room connected to the internet. We will have to see. There will be a formal greeting this afternoon with Dzongsar Khyentse and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. The conference officially starts tomorrow morning.

The group meeting with the Gyalwa Karmapa yesterday morning went as planned and was very nice. Some group photos were taken. I will post these after I get them.

The image above is of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche at his official enthronement ceremony recognizing him as the rebirth of Khyentse Chokyi Lodro. The ceremony was conducted in the early 1960s. Khyentse Rinpoche is the host of the Translators Conference here in Bir, North India.